1: The Twins
"The arrow is pointed at me. Its sharp, menacing blade sparkles in anticipation as it is held tight against the bow. A blurred figure is in control of the crossbow, but I cannot decipher who’s opposing me. Like a puzzle, the body refuses to exit my mind, because of its familiarity, though I can’t figure it out. It is frustrating, and confusing as well."

~~~~

"How are you feeling?"
His wife lifted her head slightly, but gave up and rested it back down on the pillow.
Clint bent forward to lay a kiss on his wife’s pale cheek. "The twins are okay?"
"Yeah." she smiled and pointed a limp finger to her side.
Clint grinned in automatic pride at his newborn children. Angels, perfect angels. That was what he though of them. Of course, every father would think that of his children, but Clint felt immensely blessed, given two beautiful children, a boy and a girl.
Mitchell was asleep beside his sister in a tiny cradle sent especially for them. He opened his mouth to released a silent yawn and a small coo. Lina’s hand was tucked under her head and the other was over her brother’s neck.
Their aunt, Iris stroked their hairless heads and brushed a long fingernail over their hands. This had the mother kind of worried. She loved Iris as her sister, but she acted kind of... strange. For instance, today when she visited the hospital, she was dressed in a semi-formal black dress with matching high heels, as well as dark eyeshadow and unusually long fingernails painted in alternating black and red patterns. But she seemed to love her new niece and nephew, and that calmed her.
"They’re adorable." she commented, turning to her sister. "You two have been awfully lucky."
"Thank you, Iris." said her sister, blinking tired eyes.
"Then I guess I’ll leave you two alone now. Good luck, sis." Iris nodded once in their direction and exited the hospital room.

~~~~

Lina and Mitchell grew up to be respectful children, who cared for one another and each other’s safety. At times, they were inseparable, simply crying to resolve becoming split up. Their mother was worried about this, but Iris assured her that they would grow out of it.
The twins were almost three now; they have learned to talk much earlier than most children. They never had to worry about anything, their lives were near perfect. Both parents were rich; the family lived in a mansion by the name of Masterson Manor. Mother was the CEO of a large phone company, and Father was a manager representing Evolution Music Inc.
One of the maids, who was watching the twins while the parents worked overtime, was making them dinner, when Mitchell walked up to her and grabbed the hem of her skirt.
"What is it, Mitchell?" she asked. Rachelle, who wasn’t like the other maids, never addressed them as ‘Master’ or ‘Miss.’ She, herself also from England, knew the twins well, and loved their company. The children seemed to adore her in return, so Rachelle wasn’t expected to use proper naming.
"Rachelle, I’m hungry." It wasn’t quite a complaint, more of a statement.
"Just wait a few minutes and supper will be ready, okay?"
"Okay." Mitchell resolved it with a bright smile. "What’cha making?"
"You’ll love it. Shepherd’s pie and mashed potatoes."
"Yay!" He threw his hands in the air and cheered. Then he ran to report the news to his sister.
Rachelle smiled to herself and resumed peeling potatoes.

~~~~

After dinner, the maid treated the twins to ice cream for dessert. The three of them sat at the dining room table, talking and eating at the same time.
"How was daycare?"
"It was okay." Lina made a thoughtful face. "We were finger painting. Mitchell accidentally got some paint on my face, but that’s okay."
Mitchell gave his sister a playful glare. "Well, I beat Lina at musical chairs!"
The twins then burst into giggles. Rachelle laughed with them.
Just then the phone rang. Rachelle left the table to answer it.
"Hello? Masterson residence."
"Rachelle?" Clint spoke. "We’ll be quite late tonight. You’ll probably be asleep by the time we return, but would you mind taking care of the twins tomorrow night as well?"
"Oh, Mr. Masterson, I’m sorry. I was supposed to visit my mother tomorrow evening, remember?"
"Oh, that’s right! Sorry. Well, I guess we’ll get Iris to do it then. Thanks, Rachelle."
"Yeah, sorry I can’t help."
"That’s alright. Goodbye."
"Bye." She hung the phone up and returned to the dining room.
"Was that Daddy?" Lina asked.
"Yes it was. Your Aunt Iris is going to watch you tomorrow."
A silence fell between them, until Rachelle glanced at her watch.
"Well, I guess it’s time for you two to go to bed now. Supper was a little late, so it’s already bedtime."
"Okay." they reluctantly agreed.
Both of them took separate baths on their own, and then crawled into a twin bed while Rachelle finished up with washing the dishes.
"Hey, Mitchell?" Lina whispered. "Are you scared about tomorrow night?"
Her brother responded with a light snore. He had already fallen asleep.
Lina sighed and then closed her eyes.

~~~~

"Thanks for watching the kids." said Clint.
"It’ll be fine." Iris had insisted having the twins over at her house. "Just have them sleep overnight here, and I’ll send them to daycare in the morning."
"Great." Clint dropped his kids over and laid a kiss on both their heads. "Bye, you two, be good." And then he drove away in his car.
"Kids?"
Lina and Mitchell stared at their aunt. She was still dressed strangely. Her hair was a wondrous thing, for it seemed almost silver, although Iris was barely twenty-five years old. It went well with her chestnut-brown eyes.
"It’s almost eight o’clock." Iris told them. "Would you like anything?"
"No, thanks, we already ate." Lina insisted.
"Is it okay if we went straight to bed?"
"It’s still quite early." their aunt said.
"We’re tired."
Iris was looking suspicious, but the twins were off to bed in a little while’s time.
They stood up late like any ambitious children, whispering to one another secretly. Lina was scared of her aunt, as was her brother and they shared their feelings whenever they felt that way.
"You scared?" he asked.
"A little." Lina covered her face in the blankets.
"Don’t worry, I’ll be here with you too." Mitchell wrapped his arms around his sister’s neck to comfort her, quietly singing her favourite song to lull her to sleep.

~~~~

Mitchell woke up suddenly when he felt something calling him in his sleep. But now it was all gone. His sister’s head was rested against his shoulder, asleep and oblivious to what he was thinking. He was hearing sounds from across the hall.
Mitchell slid away from Lina and crept off the bed, tip-toeing towards the door. Iris lived in an old house, so the door’s hinges were a little rusty. He cringed as the door creaked loudly. On bare foot, he approached the hall and found that the sound was coming from a room he had not known was even there. He felt eerie winds and his aunt chanting, and suddenly a noise that sounded like an ablaze of fire.
Mitchell crept on his knees and peered through the crack under the door. He saw bright candlelight shining through... and then Iris screamed.
He jumped suddenly and swung the door open. A candlestick was under the window and then the curtains caught on fire. Candles were aligned everywhere, surrounding Iris. There were piles of brown dust and sand, a pot of bubbling liquid and bottles of... potion?!
Mitchell stood at the doorway wide-eyed and unable to move. Iris screamed again, screaming for help. Multiple object lifted themselves and knocked at the curtain in an attempt to put out the fire. Sand, dust, a glass lamp and a candle holder. The fire began to spread rapidly. Mitchell’s eyes were lost in the flames.
And then Iris was ignited by the fire. She was yelling while staring at her nephew, still and horrified. Her body was disintegrating, fallen on the floor, and then motionless.
Suddenly, a shadow slipped from her body and grew eyes and a sinister mouth that was shaped into a smile. It looked at Mitchell and started drifting in his direction.
He screamed and was finally able to run. Mitchell fled into the bedroom and shook Lina.
"Wake up!! LINA!"
"Huh?" Lina’s heavy eyelids flew open and looked at Mitchell.
He pulled her out of the bed. "Come on, we have to get out of here, there’s a fire!"
Lina ran with him. Both of them sped down the flight of stairs and knocked the door down. The twins crouched on the grass of the front yard as the house burned. Mitchell covered Lina, who was crying, and assured her that she would be okay.
"Lina," he cried. "Don’t be scared, it’s just a fire. But we’re okay now. Nothing will happen to you, I promise."

~~~~

Aunt Iris’ funeral was held later that week. Her house was in a heap of ashes and her body was now limp and cold, rested in a coffin on its own.
Lina was particularly quiet that day. Mitchell felt that she needed her own time, so he left her alone. Her black hair hung in her face and covered that beautiful, but worried look of hers.
Mitchell didn’t feel right inside the church. He felt something was wrong, or maybe something was after him...?
During the middle of the ceremony, Mitchell had seen his sister creep out of the church and sneak away. Without being seen, he got up from his seat and followed her.
"Lina, what are you doing?" His voice was soft and gentle.
"Please, could you leave me alone? I don’t feel like I belong in there."
Mitchell held a million question just from her one sentence, but he did as she had requested, and returned to his seat.

~~~~

The twins started school that year at the age of four. They had always been ambitious learners, and were grateful to be entering the school building for the first time. Kindergarten proved to be quite enjoyable for the twins, and they never held a grudge for learning like most children did.
Lina and Mitchell were always together, despite what attempts tried to break them apart. They watched out for each other, particularly when Mitchell felt he needed to protect his sister.
One time, a boy his age in the room who wanted the book Lina was reading, came up to her and demanded her to give it to him. When she refused, he kicked her in the knee and grabbed the book right from her hands.
However, Lina did not cry, she did not yell for the schoolmaster, instead, she stared at the boy without blinking. Mitchell had witnessed the attack and confronted his classmate angrily.
"Hey, nobody hurts my sister." And then he pushed the boy, hard, to the ground. The boy then started bawling and screaming for the schoolmaster, who was busy helping another student with a painting. But as soon as he heard his other student crying, he dropped the paintbrush and ran over to him. Mitchell had thought that his shove must have caused him to cry, but he was looking in Lina’s direction when the tears came. The boy had been too scared to tattle. Instead, he told the schoolmaster that he had fallen.
For some reason, the twins never saw that boy again.

~~~~

As Lina and Mitchell grew, everyone had noticed that they were becoming more beautiful than children could have imagined to be. Living in England, black hair like Lina’s was uncommon, and Mitchell’s short blond hair was a destinctable hue, and so children like them were rarely seen. Mitchell was a brave child, smart and both were extremely precocious.
One night, their parents had left them in the house while they attended a business party. The maids and the cook were out for various reasons, leaving the two of them alone in Masterson Manor. The twins were barely five years of age, when Mitchell was in the living room watching television on his own. He knew not the whereabouts of his sister, until she came into the room with a wide grin planted on her face.
"Hey, Mitch, wanna see me do a trick?"
"A trick?" Mitchell left the TV and followed his sister into the kitchen.
Lina grabbed a stool and pulled it towards the drawer beneath the sink. She stood on top of the stool and opened the drawer, where she grasped a spoon and came back down again.
"See this?" she asked.
"A spoon?"
Lina nodded. "Watch." She focused her eyes on the spoon and then tilted her head. Within a few moments, the spoon began to bend and mimic every move her head made.
"Wow!" Mitchell exclaimed. "Can I try it?"
"Sure," she smiled.
He walked over to the drawer while Lina tossed the demolished spoon into the trash can. Mitchell held the spoon before his face and cocked his head to the side. His face tensed while he concentrated hard, but no movement was made.
"How come you can do it, but I can’t?" he asked.
Lina shrugged. "I saw a man do this on TV last week, and I just found out that I could do it just yesterday. The man said this was called telekinesis."
"Telekine..sis?" He struggled with the pronunciation.
"Hey, Mitch? Would you promise not to tell anyone about this?"
"I swear." he promised, placing the spoon back into the drawer.

~~~~

She came home one day drenched from the rain. A six year old girl who had just returned from school early because of a cold. She was shivering from the result of the bitter winds that frosted the air. As she entered the kitchen, a pleasant aroma greeted her along the warm surrounding. But she was not pleased. She never was.
Her mother was making lunch just as she walked in. She was surprised to see her daughter by the doorway, soaked tremendously.
"Are you okay?" She ran over to her quickly and bent forward to grant her a hug. "What happened?"
"Schoolmistress says I’m sick." she replied.
"Let me see." Her mother placed a hand over her forehead. "Yeah, I see you’ve got a fever. But why didn’t you call for a ride, I could have given you one."
"I felt like walking." she answered bluntly.
"Didn’t you have an umbrella?"
She didn’t answer this time. Instead, she left her school bag by the stairs and ascended into her room while her mother called after her.
"Would you like to have lunch now?" she called.
She got no answer. "Honey, come down!"
Still in her room, the girl flamed in deadly irritation. Mother annoyed her to hell, and every single day, she wanted to scream at her, curse at her, and hit her until her anger faded. But Mother was oblivious to what she was thinking. Although she knew that her daughter was changing, she still maintained the same attitude she had always had. She was a patient women, who never believed in violence.
That angered her even further. She wanted her mother to be angry as well.
"Come down for lunch, dear!"
Shut up, shut up! God, SHUT UP!! she wanted to scream.
The climax of her fury was peaking. She wanted to break something, smash something, hurt somebody. But then she managed to grasp onto her stability, and remained calm as she descended the stairs and returned to the kitchen, only to squat against a wall and regard her mother.
Her mother did not know she was there yet. She was by the stove, stirring something in a pot with a ladle. The girl observed her mother lift the pot and place it in the sink to cool. The stove was still burning.
She closed her eyes for a split second before they rapidly flew open. Her mother’s eyes grew vacant for a short moment. Then her hand involuntarily lifted and pulled the rest of her body towards one direction. The stove.
She was shocked at first, so surprised that she had to stop and think through what was happening. But then her fear took over as discovered where she was headed.
She was screaming when she failed to take control of her own body. She resisted as much as she could, but her hand refused to obey her. She tugged at her arm, but all the strength she exerted was useless against the opposing power.
When finally her hand connected with the element, her eyes expanded in pain and her colour drained immediately. A large, threatening flame suddenly ignited over the element, and then her skin was burning, blazing, incinerating from the fire.
At that moment, her hand was released, and then she fell to the floor with closed eyes. Sweat glazed her forehead, and she was panting for breath. Her face had been heated slightly, scorched to a light red. Her right hand was bruised to a disgusting brown shade, with patches of dried blood and an unknown liquid trickling over the burns, all surrounded by a mist of smoke. Her panting stopped right then. Her movement ceased, and then she became unconscious.
Smoke began to fill the entire room. Then the fire detector went off.
She was still watching from behind the wall. Her expressionless face had not changed at all. As soon as she shut off the alarm, she approached her mother’s body and examined it. She gave it a sharp kick and frowned. So she’s still alive. But no one can tend her now; she will suffer, and eventually, someday, she will die.
Finally, she left her mother and stepped into her own room again. For a long time, she just stared into the mirror. At times, this maintained her sanity, glaring at herself to be sure she was still there. But when her reflection’s gaze stared into her own, she was lost... no longer knew who she was.
She scowled into the mirror, then quickly scanned her room for something to throw and release her rage. She stopped when she saw her glass lamp, placed on the night stand. Her eyes locked onto the item; her mind set with it.
She watched the lamp lift itself, then streak across the room to crash into the mirror. Both objects shattered from the collision, and shards of jagged glass rebounded to sprinkle the floor in a blanket of frighteningly sharp razors.
When she looked down at her arm, she found several deep cuts extricating a trail of shining blood. Tiny pieces of glass were caught in her flesh, protruding outwards from her skin like an axe halfway cut through a stalk of wood..... But she was smiling. She was smiling because of the satisfying image she saw in the mirror. Her observation noted that the glass was shattered, and when she looked at it, she no longer knew who she was seeing.
And that pleased her.

~~~~

2: Dark Child
Robin stared through the window, her eyes twitching noticeably, scanning the dark clouds nervously. Thunder rumbled violently, although no spit of rain was released. A bolt of flashing lightning struck the ground and then vanished, more rapidly than a pillar of light would travel.
"One of them’s angry." she spoke, not even realizing her mouth had moved.
Her husband walked towards the window and joined her in watching the sky. "What are you talking about?"
Robin’s eyes remained locked on the outdoors. "The twins nearby, I can feel them... suffering, freeing their pain and anger."
"Wait," Gareth was doubtful. "What does the weather have anything to do with the twins?"
"Well, do you know any Greek mythology?" she asked him without turning away from the glass.
Gareth gave her a confused glare.
"It’s like Zeus, when he was furious, he threw lightning bolts from the skies."
Gareth’s expression did not change. "Look, Robin, I hate it when you act all superstitious around me. You are not a psychic, and the twins have nothing to do with--"
"I want Juni out of Austin Academy!" she demanded suddenly.
After her words, Gareth had completely changed from confused to shocked. "But Juni wouldn’t leave, just like that!"
"Then the twins will have to go." Robin finally shifted her sight from the sky to stare at Gareth through narrowed eyes.
"You only hate them because they’re smart." Gareth told her.
She paused for a second. "Not just smart." she replied. "Unbelievably ingenious. It scares me."
"Robin..."
"No, Gareth. This is Stockholm, and they’ve moved here like, when? Two years ago?!" She held up two of her fingers and shook them in her husband’s face. "It’s been two years that I’ve lived in fear of them!"
"Robin! They’re only kids, they can’t do anything!"
"When I’m near them," her voice quivered. "I feel a strange force emanating from their bodies. And when I see them, their eyes are just so empty, so vacant." Her tone had dropped into a low whisper.
"Robin, dear, you’re overreacting. They’re just children, okay? Trust me."
"I wish I could."

~~~~

Time flew quickly. The twins reached adolescence fast. A move to Sweden had altered their English accent, and Masterson Manor was no longer was theirs. Mother was dead, Mitchell didn’t know the whole story, but it seemed she had fallen off a cliff at a nearby forest. Clint alone could not keep a mansion with his job, so instead, they lived in a three story house by the suburbs of Sweden.
Lina noted several changes in that her figure was more feminine, more mature. Beautiful face, along with graceful legs and delicate hips that a girl would love to show off. But Lina was not like that. If she was proud of herself, she did not show it.
Mitchell was just as tall, his skin was tanned well, and he possessed a voice that had changed into one that spoke deep, rich, soothing words. There was no doubt in that he was incredibly good-looking.
Lina pulled on her school’s blazer and jumped into the car.
Both of them were silent throughout the ride, as was their father. This was nothing different, there had never been a relationship between them.
The twins always carried a rebellious look with them. They were seated in casual positions, almost desperately casual, seatbelts were tossed to the side and forgotten. Both of them were fairly similar, with common interests and thoughts. The only thing that made them distinct was their appearances. They were fraternal, but even then, they looked completely different from each other. Mitchell had the face of hot rock star, that is, if he ever smiled. Dark blond hair covered a portion of his azure eyes, hanging in his face, almost as if it were wet. The sleeve of his uniform hid the arm that possessed his tattoo. He got it just last year, before his thirteenth birthday, and since then, he has had a black dragon coiled around his upper arm.
Lina was a lot paler than her brother, a complexion that was almost cream white. She had raven black hair and piercing emerald green eyes. A silver ring protruded from her left brow and another one attached at the mid- point of her ear.
Both hardly ever spoke a word to anyone else but each other. According to some rumours, the reason was because their mother never loved them much, or because they were too good for everyone else. But there was no reason as to why they had become alone, or why they averted human affection.
When they stepped onto schoolground and passed the iron gate, an awkward quiescence surrounded them. Several were staring and pointing, but the twins ignored them.
The school feared them, for they were never open to others, they never smiled, their eyes were never emotional, and yet, they were the smartest two at Austin Academy.
Private school proved to be the best for them. Although discipline was taught, it was rarely shown in them. But even though their perspectives have never evolved, atleast their intelligence were not going to be wasted.
The schoolmasters of Austin Academy were completely oblivious to their abilities. They would have been so popular if they weren’t so mysterious.

~~~~

"Miss Masterson."
When the schoolmistress spoke her name, Lina lifted her gaze upwards to stare straight at the one who had called her.
"Have you been paying any attention whatsoever to what I have been saying within the past half hour?"
She heard Mrs. Jonsson speak in the same tone of voice a stereotypical teacher would. Lina despised it.
"Yes, Mrs. Jonsson." she replied.
She was doubtful. "What have I said, Miss Masterson?"
Lina stood up from her seat and leaned on her desk. "Illusion is a fear of imminence, and imminence is a fear of illusion. It is an obstacle along the impelling force of one’s potential."
The room fell silent. Mrs. Jonsson looked astonished.
But just at that moment, the bell had rang for lunch. Students left their desks and exited the room. Mitchell gave a short nod to his sister implying that he’d meet her later.
"Miss Masterson, please come forth to my desk."
Lina followed her schoolmistress to the front of her room.
"I’d like to see you after school." That was it, that was all she said. But no explanation was needed when she handed her a slip of paper. Detention slip.
"Yes, Mrs. Jonsson." She nodded in her direction and then left into the empty hallway. Lina stared at the detention slip and scowled at it. She then opened up her blazer and reached into the interior pocket. A cigarette package was found first, and then a lighter. She withdrew the lighter and placed it below the paper, igniting it on fire. The flames set in a satisfying crack, and then the detention slip was nothing more than ashes scattered on the floor. She knew ripping it would have been much more simple, but then it wouldn’t have been as pleasing.
She walked over the ashes and then exited the building, hoping to meet her brother. They met at lunch behind the school building, where nobody could see or hear them. It was cold outside, but the temperature didn’t bother them.
"They’re not too intelligent." Mitchell crept out from the shadow.
"Never thought they were." Lina responded bitterly. "Damn bastards."
"There’s nothing we can do about them." Mitchell glided a hand in his blazer pocket and revealed a single cigarette.
Lina did the same and slipped out her lighter as well. She lit both cigarettes before they placed them in their mouths. After a few inhalations, they became surrounded by a barrier of misty smoke.
"So why is it that we’re stuck with them?" she asked.
"What difference does it make? We’d have to be stuck with someone." Mitchell tapped his cigarette while the tiny ashes fell and specked the ground in grey shreds. "I don’t expect anything to happen soon."
"No prophecies?"
He shook his head. "Nothing." Mitchell placed the cigarette back in his mouth and then leaned on the wall.
Lina crossed her arms. "What are we going to do?"
Her brother stared at her. "What do you mean?"
"I mean with our lives, Mitch. What are we going to do?"
"I don’t expect to do much." He spat out the cigarette butt and ground it beneath his heel. "I don’t even want to live if I have no purpose."
"Would you rather die young or live long and lonely?" she asked.
"Why not live at all?"
She turned away. "Reminds me of Mom. Died young. The same with Iris."
"Aunt Iris?"
"I miss her." she replied bluntly.
Mitchell didn’t say anything for a second.
"You’re not going to eat, are you?" he finally asked.
Lina was about to shake her head when a shadow came into view and a student from their school stood before them. Her blue eyes were shot straight at them.
"Lina!" she exclaimed.
"Juni." she replied flatly.
"You guys are going to get in so much crap for this." she informed, noticing the cigarette butts on the ground. "Step away from this area so know one finds out."
With that simple warning, she sped off again and ran into the school building.
Mitchell looked at his sister. "Who was that?"
Lina’s eyes were narrowed in Juni’s direction. "Juni Tysper. God, she annoys me."
"Do you think she’ll tell them?"
"No." Lina shook her head. "She wouldn’t do that. She doesn’t strike me as immature... but man, I hate her."
Mitchell reached into his pocket again and took ahold of a knife. He had nothing better to do, so he carved a hole in the school building.
"Damn this school." he said. "I hate this."
He suddenly thrust the blade into the brick with incredible strength.
"Mrs. Jonsson is on my case. I’m on my way to being expelled. Shit, I just wish she’d fucking die." Lina looked at her watch. "I better get back in. You coming?"
"Sure." He got up to follow his sister back in. The halls were vacant, and their footsteps echoed as they walked. "If you want her dead, then she will be."

~~~~

Robin jumped when she heard the door open.
"Juni, you’re home."
"Hey, Mom." She stared at her mother in question. "What were you doing?"
"Nothing." she lied.
Juni knew her mother was looking out the window again, but she would always insist the same answer, so she didn’t bother to probe her this time.
Robin walked towards the sink and began washing the dishes to keep herself looking busy.
"So what did you do at school?"
"I met Lina’s brother today."
Robin suddenly dropped one of the dishes. "Juni... I--" Her voice was quiet, almost a whisper, but she didn’t continue.
Juni noticed how surprised her mother looked. "I don’t get why everyone hates them. They seem fine to me."
"You’re not scared of them?"
"Scared?" she wondered. "Why?"
"Juni." She placed her hands on her daughter’s shoulders. "They’re dangerous."
After a moment of silence, Juni’s anger rose. "How do you know, you’ve never met them!"
"Juni--"
"They’re just students, they’re not dangerous!"
"But I sense that they’re--"
"I don’t care!" she interrupted, wrenching free from her mother’s hold. "I never believed you could sense anything! You’re just going by what everyone else says about them. Well, guess what? They’re wrong!"
She waited for Robin’s response. Instead of speaking, she turned to the window. "The forest."
"What?"
"The forest is calling me."
"Oh, my God." Juni rolled her eyes in frustration, thinking that her mother was impossible. "Okay, you know what? I’m going." And with that, she ran upstairs and slammed the door of her room.

~~~~

"Goodbye, Marit!" a staff member said to her. "Have a nice evening."
"Yeah, you too." Marit Jonsson walked through the doors and unlocked her car. As soon as she inserted the key in, the engine sputtered a few times, then went dead. She tried again, but the car refused to start. That’s strange... she thought.
"Excuse me, Brön?" she called. "Could you come here for a second?"
Brön stepped over to her and asked what was wrong.
"I can’t get my car engine to start, do you know what’s happening?"
He examined the front and rear of the old Corvette and then faced Marit. "Nothing’s wrong physically, but hand me the car keys." Brön climbed into the seat and pressed the key into the ignition. He tried several times to start the car, but the results grew worse each time.
"It wasn’t at all like this when I drove it this morning." Marit remembered.
"I’ll tell you what. Let’s leave this car here overnight. I’ll drive you home tonight and pick you up in the morning. Is that okay?"
"You don’t mind?" she asked.
"Of course not, I live fairly close to you, anyway."
"Alright then, thank you so much, I greatly appreciate it."
Both of them climbed into Brön’s car and drove away from the school.
Neither of them said a word until Marit’s house was reached. She thanked the other teacher once again and said goodnight. But as soon as she unlocked her front door, she smelled something that usually wasn’t there. She followed the scent and was lead into the backyard. That smell grew stronger as she reached the toolshed.
Gasoline, it smelled of gasoline when she stepped in. And then she found a half-used cigarette and a lighter placed on the floor. Marit bent down to pick it up when suddenly the door shut. The shed was dark; pitch black.
Marit ran to the door and shoved it open, but it refused. She pounded it until her hands ached, and then, when nothing happened, she screamed for help. She heard gasoline being poured on the walls of her shed, the scent grew worse and worse until she could no longer take it.
And then she heard a match being lit. She suddenly stopped pounding the door and halted her screaming. A fire seeped from the wall and spread rapidly to surround her. This time when she screamed, it was automatic.
Just before the flames caught her, she heard a familiar voice.
"Next time she’ll think before giving me a warning."
"Lina, come on, let’s get out of here before someone catches us." her brother told her.
Lina leaned towards the wall. "I hope you regret meeting me, Mrs. Jonsson, because now you’re going to die. Just recall what I’ve said to you today. Illusion is a fear of imminence, and imminence is a fear of illusion. It is an obstacle along the impelling force of one’s potential."

~~~~

"Marit!" Brön pressed the horn again, and again. He then got out of the car and stood in front of the door, repeatedly pounding the doorbell. "Marit, are you up?"
Brön didn’t want to intrude, but he didn’t want both of them to be late, so he opened the unlocked door and let himself in. "Marit?" he called. "Sorry to come in like this, but we’re running late! Marit!"
Then he smelled it. Brön had an incredibly good sense of smell, and he knew that he smelled ashes. There was a screen door that lead to the backyard, and he went through it, immensely surprised to see a shed burned to the ground.
"MARIT!!" he screamed, running over to the pile of wood. He picked up the pieces and shoved them out of his way until he found Marit’s scorched body.
"Oh my God." he whispered. Rapidly, he took out his cell phone and called for the ambulance. He told the women over the phone Marit’s address and status. She told him that they would be there as soon as they can.
"How long would that be?!" he demanded.
"Sir, please, we’ll do what we can, but we can’t promise anything."
"But this is an emergency, damn it!!"
The women had hung up on him. Brön was furious with the hospital’s service, but he surpassed it, and examined Marit.
He knew she was probably already dead, and calling the ambulance was just a waste of time, but there was nothing else he could do.
Then, suddenly he found an orange object beside her. It was lighter, its plastic coating cracked and melted. Along it was a slice of tiny paper that was almost burned completely into ashes. He sniffed it. A cigarette. Marit had been smoking, and then probably dropped it, which set off a fire.
The ambulance arrived a while later and took Marit’s body away. Brön carried on to the school, still shocked by the discovery. He told the staff about the incident; they were each equally shocked. History classes were canceled, which was what Marit taught, but the day went on as usual.

~~~~

Math class had just ended for Mitchell, who was walking away from the classroom to get to his locker. He first saw Lina by her locker, holding a couple of books, with someone beside her. Harley Sepehmanesh. Austin Academy’s most popular sophomore.
Lina did not feel anything. Harley was a jerk, who didn’t know that?
"Lina." He lifted her chin so that she looked straight at him. "Don’t you think you’d be perfect alongside me?"
She stared at him. "Why do you want me?"
"We deserve each other." he replied simply. He leaned over closer and tucked a piece of her hair behind her ear. Then he reached for her shirt collar and undid the first button.
"Sepehmanesh!!" Mitchell threatened. "Keep your hands off her, pervert!"
Harley stopped what he was doing and looked behind him. "Look, it’s your asshole brother."
Mitchell jumped between them and threw his hands out to shield his sister.
"Isn’t that cute?" he spoke mockingly.
"You want to take on a Tae Kwon Do black belt?!"
"Wait, Mitch!" Lina grabbed his hand before it had a chance to strike Harley’s face. "It’s okay, you don’t have to protect me all the time. I’ll take this one."
Mitchell dropped his arms and headed for his next class. On his way, he glared coldly at Harley and shoved him hard into the lockers behind him, before resuming again.
Lina took Harley away from the school building and lead him all the way to the nearby creek which lead into a forest.
"What are we doing here?" he asked.
She smiled at him. "I have a surprise for you. Step into the water."
Both of them stood in the shallow waters as Lina reached for his face.
"This is what I want, right?"
"Sure." She pulled his body closer and shoved his mouth into hers. It was hardly a kiss, for her force was too hard.
It made no difference to Harley, who’s hands were at her back. He wanted to go further; have her more. But before he even had a chance, his eyes rolled to the back of his head as he tasted something unknown. Lina released him and silence broke in.
Harley’s body then fell to the ground and drowned in the water.

3: Dreamscape
It couldn’t have been human, but what else could it be? It clutched a knife tightly in its right hand. Robin stared at it, but never analyzed what it was. But then her eyes focused on the gleaming blade that was meant to strike her. The shadow lifted its hand and pointed the knife to Robin’s chest.
"No." She refused to believe it was happening. But just at that moment, the blade was thrust into her, and then pulled back out, dripping in blood.
Robin spent the rest of her day gazing out the window again. She stared at the mass of trees at the horizon, lush leaves flapping in the gentle breeze.
She then ran out of the room quickly and bolted through the front door. Robin ran towards the forest, hearing it calling out to her. But in reality it wasn’t, it was a forest, but then... something was. The woods were notorious for being occupied by lost spirits. Robin had even heard of it being ‘haunted,’ but she figured it was just because tourists grew bored of giving that name to eerie-looking houses. Although, in her mind, she never doubted those theories.
She first saw a small creek, leading towards an area covered in ivy. The sun stopped shining as soon as she stepped into the forest, and she could no longer see the sky when the trees were blocking the view. A dirt path trailed through the woods, so she followed it.
"I’m here." she called, though she didn’t know why.
"Robin.." A voice responded, a soft one that was barely audible. And then someone pushed a branch out of her face and confronted her.
It was only a little girl, no more than nine years old. She had light brown hair and sparkling blue eyes.
"You’re one of them, aren’t you?" Robin gasped. Was she supposed to be scared, or fascinated?
She nodded. "I’ve lost something."
"What’s your name?" Robin wondered if she even had a name.
She paused. "It doesn’t matter, I need your help."
Hesitantly, Robin kneeled in front of her and placed a hand gently on the girl’s head. She had no idea what she was doing, but it was like she somehow knew this was going to happen. "There are a lot like you in this forest. You come here when something in your lives are unfinished. You say you’ve lost something?"
The girl nodded.
"I’ll help you search for what you’re looking for, so when we find it, you can move on to your next life."
Just then the little girl smiled and jumped into Robin’s arms. Robin couldn’t help but smile back. This spirit was harmless. "Come on, let’s go search then."
She lead the girl into a grouping of trees and began brushing the ground free of leaves and twigs. "So what have you lost?"
"A photograph. It’s very important that I get it back."
"A photograph? Do you know where you lost it?"
"It was just around here." she said.
"Well, I’ll keep searching and--" She winced suddenly when a twig snapped at her hand. A cut soon followed and a trickle of blood released.
"Are you okay?" she asked.
"Yeah, I’m fine." she assured. "I just-- Wait a minute." She swept a leaf from the ground and felt a slick, glossy surface. "I think I found it."
"You did?" The girl ran up to her and glanced at what Robin was holding. It was a picture of a women. "You did! Thank you so much."
"Here." Robin handed it to her.
She took it in her hands for only a second. "Thanks, but... this is actually for you."
"What?"
She handed it back to Robin. "You have to keep it. Please, don’t lose it until it no longer serves a purpose. It’s proof that you’ve met me."
"But why?"
"Just trust me. And Robin?"
"Yes?"
"My name is Mercury."
Robin stared at the photograph. The women looked so much like the little girl. She had the same bright blue eyes and the happy expression.
"Hey, Mercury? Who is--"
But the girl had disappeared.
"Mercury?!" she called.
No response. Robin slipped the picture into her pocket and walked away, heading back for home.

~~~~

"You didn’t sleep much, did you?"
"No." Mitchell rested his head on his sister’s shoulder.
"What happened?" Lina asked him.
"Couldn’t get to sleep."
"Dreams, right?"
"Yeah."
"Well, homeroom starts soon, so I’ll talk to you at home. See ya."
"Later." Mitchell approached his locker and quickly reviewed last night’s homework.
"Mitch, what’s wrong?"
He suddenly slammed his locker door closed and came face to face with Juni. He gave her a glacial stare instead of answering.
Despite of his stare, Juni was smiling while she clutched her books to her chest.
"Get out of here." he told her.
"Mitchell, I know something wasn’t right last night."
"Nothing’s wrong!" he insisted.
She examined him for a moment. "Your hands are clenched into fists. They’re shaking as well." Juni looked in his face. "You look flushed, and the lining around your eyes insinuate that you haven’t been sleeping well. Your pupils are dilated, I can sense your heartbeat quickening." She paused for a second. "Your breathing is laboured and distorted ...And it looks as if you’ve been perspiring. ...If you had hid all of this, I wouldn’t be suspecting anything."
Mitchell was expected to be furious, but he didn’t show it. "So I’m caught, now, am I? Okay, if I tell you, you can not tell my sister."
"I won’t." she promised.
"I just had a vision in my dream. A shadow... A shadow held this noose in its hands. It hung it around my neck and then.. it strangled me."
"Mitchell... how did this get you worrying you so much?"
He looked at her, into her, for several moments, debating whether or not he should explain. As soon as the words spilled out, he knew he was going to regret it. "I’m a clairvoyant."
"What?" she gasped.
"I-I'm sorry...." Mitchell turned away and placed his fingers over his mouth. "I’m sorry, I wasn’t really supposed to--" He started to run away.
Juni grabbed him before he had a chance. "Mitchell, please--"
He looked in her eyes and saw care. And that frightened him.
The bell cued for first homeroom just then.
"I have to go." Mitchell freed himself from Juni’s reach and walked away.

~~~~

Clint sat in the waiting room reading a magazine. Upon closer inspection, he wasn’t focused on the page as much as he was buried in his own thoughts. Maybe this wasn’t such a good idea after all.
Just as he was about to back off, he was called in by the secretary.
"Mr. Masterson, Dr. Tysper will take you in now."
Clint dropped the magazine on the table and entered the office, where he was seated next to the psychiatrist.
She held a clipboard in her hands and read over her schedule. "Mr... Masterson?" Robin paused there. "Good afternoon. We’ll start right away."
"Well, God, I don’t know where to begin."
"What problem do you wish to state?"
"I... I just don’t feel I have something to live for."
Robin wasn’t satisfied with his answer. "Explain,"
"My wife... died a long time ago. I have to support two children, my daughter, Lina and my son, Mitchell--"
"Twins?" Robin’s heart took a leap.
"Yeah. How did you know?"
"Nothing, proceed."
"Well, I don’t know... both of them don’t seem like themselves. We’ve grown far apart, sometimes I even think they’re evil or something. It’s stupid, really. But that’s how I feel. I mean, I still love my children, but--"
He stopped there.
"You say your children are abnormal?"
"Not that, it’s just they seem so quiet, so... vacant. It’s like they’re not even human."
"Perhaps it would relate to the death of their mother." she pointed out.
"No," he shook his head. "It was like this before she even died. Actually, it started when their aunt died from a fire. I didn’t think it would take on such a large effect on them. Plus, I don’t get to see them much because of my job. I have to travel a lot."
"I think you should try talking to them first. They probably feel insecure because of the family’s situation. And because they don’t get to see you a lot."
Robin’s knowledge of twins deepened, and so did her fear of them. And now she was worried about Juni because she knew her daughter took a liking to the twins.
"Really? Okay, thanks, Doctor. I really should be going now, but I’ll definitely consider your words. Maybe I’ll see you later. I’ll see how things turn out." Clint was still insecure about seeing a doctor; he wanted to leave.
"That sure was a short meeting. Well, come back when you need to."
"Sure." He knew his problem was still unsolved, but he wanted to leave as soon as possible. Clint lifted himself from the chair and was on his way to exit when he spotted something on the doctor’s desk. His eyes were locked against a photograph. His head spun rapidly. Clint buried his head in his hands.
"What’s wrong?" she asked.
"Nothing, really." He shook his head. "Just who is that in the photo?"
Robin hesitated. Being a psychiatrist, she shouldn’t be talking about ghosts or spirits. She could imagine her patient’s expression if she said A little girl’s soul from the forest just gave it to me.
"Uh, well," she searched for a reasonable excuse. "That’s my cousin. Her name is... Marion. Why?"
Clint examined it for a minute. "I must be hallucinating or something. I don’t feel good. Goodbye, Doctor."

4: Juni: Angel Lover
During a visual arts class, Mitchell felt lost among his schoolmistress’ words. She had assigned a project already, to be worked upon in partners. Normally, Mitchell would have worked with Lina, but she was at a different class. Besides, the schoolmistress already chose the partners herself. He was working with Juni.
The two of them were assigned to study and create Celtic art. Mitchell had no idea where to start, until Juni came along and guided him.
"Note in this knot," Juni began, pointing to her latest drawing. "that the lines overlap each other alternately." She took Mitchell’s hand in hers and guided him in drawing a common Celtic cross. "See? Like that. You can do it."
Mitchell looked up at her smiled. "I think I’ve got it." He still sounded a little reluctant. "Sorry for not being such a great artist."
"Actually, it’s better for me to teach someone to achieve in the arts than to work with an already-talented artist."
"So you’re not upset to be stuck with me?"
"Is it so horrible to be stuck with you?" she joked.
Mitchell laughed lightly and Juni joined him.
"You’ve got a wonderful smile, Mitch. You should try smiling more often."
He blushed. Juni just smiled at him.

~~~~

Mitchell was late for lunch at noon. He had been caught smoking on school property again. Lina had decided to eat this time, so he was caught alone. He had been threatened with a suspension, but the schoolmasters never arranged it. This time, they had reduced the punishment to a simple call to his dad. But Dad wouldn’t care, so Mitchell just let the previous episode fade in his mind. He took out a packet of gum and threw several pieces into his mouth to eliminate the scent of tobacco.
The cafeteria was almost empty, with the exception of a few students and his sister.
"Missed lunch." He noticed that the cafeteria workers had already gone.
"Here." Lina handed him her unfinished lunch tray.
"Thanks." He accepted his sister’s half-touched lunch, took only a carton of chocolate milk and pushed away the rest. Lina took the tray and departed to discard the rest at the nearest receptacle, while her brother finished off the milk with the gum still in his mouth.
"Lina."
Lina stopped moving and felt her blood rise. Juni.
She had noticed that Lina was becoming displeased. "I just wanted to congratulate you. I heard you won last week’s math contest."
"Leave me." she instructed coldly.
"Lina-"
"Leave me." she repeated again.
Juni placed a hand on her shoulder. "What’s happened, Lina? I know you weren’t always like this."
Lina flared in pure antagonism and gave her a bitter glower.

~~~~

Mitchell didn’t notice the two across the hall, until a vision came to him.
He suddenly dropped the carton as milk splattered on the floor. Lina...
"No!" he cried. He jolted out the room and joined the two in the hall.
Lina looked in the direction of the cafeteria’s kitchen, and then two sharp knives rose from their place on the counter and sped rapidly in Juni’s direction.
For the first time in years, Mitchell’s face held an emotion; his face clearly read fear. Not a fear of someone, but a fear for someone.
"JUNI!!" He screamed after her, but she didn’t move. Mitchell jumped at her and pushed her to the ground. One of the smaller blades had penetrated his right arm and ricocheted to return back to the larger knife. Both tools continued to dart until they hit the wall and clattered to the ground, motionless.
Mitchell was kneeled to the ground, clutching his arm and panting. What the hell was that?! He searched for Lina, but she had gone from his sight.
"Mitch...?" She lifted herself and looked in fear at him.
"It’s alright." he persuaded.
"Don’t." Her voice was serious but compassionate. "People have leanred to say that even when they’re in dying pain. You don’t have to fool me to assure me, you know."
Mitchell lifted his blazer off. "Sorry."
"Let me see your wound." She pulled the sleeve up to his shoulder, but was first taken by surprise to see his tattoo.
It was funny- Mitchell was never regretful or ashamed of it, but now he felt slightly stupid for possessing it. It was also kind of strange- he never cared about the safety about anyone else but his sister. He remembered murdering Mrs. Jonsson and wondered why he decided to save Juni from dying.
Juni gently placed her hand on his arm and traced the black dragon with her fingertips. She found a napkin in her pocket and then brushed away the excess blood. Mitchell winced from the pain of his laceration.
Juni then sank her teeth into the hem-line of her skirt and pulled off a long strip of cloth. She wrapped it around Mitchell’s wound and tied it at the end.
"By the way, Mitch.... Thank you for saving me."
"You’re welcome." He placed his blazer back on but remained at the floor.
"So what was that?" she asked.
"I don’t know." he answered. "You’re not freaked out?"
"Hey, I’ve lived through a lot. Can’t say that was the freakiest thing I’ve seen."
Cerulean eyes of hers seemed glazed when they met his. "I’ve known your sister for a long time. I’ve known her in the early years of elementary school. She was so caring when she was younger and... I don’t know, she kind of... changed over the years. Mitchell, what’s happened?"
"I think I know. It started back when her aunt died, almost ten years ago. I didn’t think she liked Iris, but she told me the other day that she missed her."
"You don’t miss her?"
He shook his head. "I know it might sound a little harsh, but I was glad that she died. She scared me throughout my childhood. Mom didn’t know as much about her than we did, so she sent us to her house one night while she worked overtime. I remember then we had to sleep over, and I was creeping out of bed, when I heard her in this room. She wouldn’t expect me to be up at that hour, so she sat there, surrounded by candles, practising witchcraft. And then... I don’t know, she cast the spell wrong and then, she got lit by the flames and... I woke Lina up, and we ran out of the house just as it burned down right in our faces. Iris was young.... And.... I don’t... even know why I’m telling you this."
He got up to leave again.
"No, wait." Juni held on to his wrist and pulled him back down.
"Stop. Just let me go." He released his hand from her.
"Mitchell, please. I just want to understand what has happened."
"Well, I don’t want you to know." he snapped.
Juni’s eyes suddenly darkened. "So you tell me this important story of your life, and then you expect to just leave it?"
"And why do you find that wrong?!" he shouted.
"I want to see if I can help!"
"I don’t need your help, I don’t want your damn help!!"
"So then you never trusted me." she said quietly.
Mitchell wanted to yell, maybe strike her. Yeah, that would make him feel better. But when he looked into her eyes, he didn't just see care... he also saw love. He felt like growing angry and hurting her, but instead, he leaned forward and kissed her. It scared Mitchell, how sweet it was to touch someone so passionately, so affectionately.
Juni held his face tightly and glided her hand on his chest. Her eyes were shut closed, like she cherished this very moment. Mitchell stroked her neck until they broke apart. From there, Juni buried her head in his chest while he comforted her. His arms wrapped around her body, making her feel secure.
"I did trust you." he finally told her.

~~~~

Robin walked along the street and constantly stared at the photo she was given. It didn’t make any sense to her, she didn’t know or recognize this women, why would the girl have given this to her?
She decided to push the thought out of her mind and forget it. But then she stopped when she caught sight of Mitchell. Robin slipped the picture back into her pocket and avoided looking at him.
"Hi." he greeted.
Robin felt like he was playing some sort of trick on her.
"Mitchell?"
"You’re Juni’s mother, aren’t you? It’s nice to meet you. She and I are in several classes together."
Robin was shaking. She tried to nodding to him, but it came slowly. She knew that he and her daughter had become close friends, probably even more than that.
"I’ll hope to see you later, Mrs. Tysper. Have a good evening."
And then he departed.
Robin didn’t know if she should have been relieved or suspicious. She looked down the street at Mitchell before turning around again.
Mitchell felt a strange force in her presence. There was a power that surrounded her aura, and he could feel it.
But suddenly, something came to him. He immediately spun around and ran back to Robin.
"Mrs. Tysper, STOP!!"
She was at the curb, ready to cross the street when she heard his call.
"Don’t cross the street." he informed her.
"Why not?" She stepped off the curb, when a loud screeching of tires reached her ears and caused her to return to the sidewalk.
Just then, a driver sped by in a red convertible. He was obviously drunk, and was lucky that no other car was nearby. The convertible ran sloppily down the road until it vanished in the distance and ceased the noise as well.
Robin had been re-captured by terror. She slowly turned her head and stared at Mitchell. "How did you....?"
"You’re welcome, Mrs. Tysper." he interrupted. Mitchell smiled encouragingly at her and disappeared again.
He left Robin shocked in her own fright. She was still trying to catch her breath and steady the fast beating of her heart.

~~~~

Mitchell didn’t see Lina all day until he discovered her in their backyard deck late that evening. It was dark and cold outside, enough to make him shiver. Lina was drinking from a glass bottle of liqueur and holding another cigarette in her hand.
This was nothing new to Mitchell, but he seemed revolted to see her sister drinking at such a young age.
Lina held the package of cigarettes in his brother’s face to offer him one.
Mitchell shook his head. "No."
Lina shrugged and then it grew quiet. A cold wind swept passed them, as Lina blew out breath after breath of smoke and tasted another sip of liqueur.
"I saw you today with Juni. I didn’t think you liked her." Her voice had become bitter.
Mitchell was ungrateful with what he was hearing. "Why would you even care?"
"I never thought you would befriend anyone, especially her. I thought it would always be just you and me, without anyone else."
"What?" He was outraged. "I don’t believe you’re saying this. You want me to be lonely?! You want to see me grieve?!"
"Grieve?!" she exclaimed. "I’ve protected you all my life, and you feel you’re grieving!?"
Mitchell was surprised with how fast the argument had arrived. "I’ve been like this for years, hoping that someday I’d die!"
"Then why didn’t you, then? Huh? Why didn’t you just kill yourself?!"
He paused. "Because I’ve found a purpose. I found that life is with me for experience. Sure, it may suck sometimes, but would you rather suffer?"
"If I suffer, then you will suffer with me."
"You know what?" he replied venomously. "I would rather live and die in Hell than to stay in loneliness with you for the rest of my life."
"Why, do you have someone to talk to in Hell?! Do you have relatives that you can depend on there?!"
"You want to know the truth? I don’t. I don’t have any living relatives that I can trust in Hell or on Earth! And you know what, Lina?! I don’t care what you say, I probably love Juni more than I love you!"
Lina pierced her eyes at him and grasped the glass bottle tightly in her hand before suddenly whipping it across Mitchell’s face.
The glass broke when it hit him and then an icy silence broke out.
Mitchell’s hand flew to his face as he met his sister’s gaze. When he looked at his hand, a red stain had blemished where he touched his cheek, and there were pieces of the bottle at his feet.
She was suffering, he knew that, but he didn’t know how to help her. Mitchell had nothing to say to her, so he ran up the stairs and locked himself into his room. He took a look around, and was disgusted with himself. The walls were covered in graphics of gothic animation, heavy metal rock groups and rappers, bikers, and female porn stars. The bed was unmade, and his desk was invisible under the variety of scattered items. He had never felt so damn angry in his life, not only at his family, but at himself. He wanted to collapse and cry; cry out any pain within him, but he was more enraged than he was sorrowful.
He snatched his empty trash can and tore down all his posters, ripped them in pieces, crumpled them into balls, and threw them away, while he was still destructive. He ran over to his desk and threw out almost everything he found. Heavy metal CD’s, a neckpiece that resembled a bulldog’s collar, a violent Swedish movie in which he had recently stolen, a Swiss knife that he’d probably have used as a weapon, and a half-used packet of cigarettes.
By the time he finished, he was no longer aware of the time. Mitchell sank into a chair and examined the empty walls, the spotless floor, and the now visible desk. He was too exhausted to go any further, so he fell asleep right there.

5: Lina: Sister Devil
A pond. No, it was just a pool of water, illuminated by the eerie glow of the moon. I stepped into the water and saw the shadow come into view again. Its shape was of a human figure; it approached me closer and lifted a dark, misty hand. Its claw-like fingers penetrated my chest and pulled my heart right out. I was screaming. My voice echoed into the night, but the only response I was given was the swaying of the trees.
It squeezed the organ within its hand and made it drip in gruesome blood. The heart was still throbbing, the veins pulsated loudly, like in Poe’s ‘The Tell-Tale Heart.’ The beating grew increasingly louder... until it stopped completely. My eyesight blurred, and then faded away.

~~~~

Robin and Mitchell sat up from bed at the same time. Robin checked the clock. 7:40 am. She took a deep breath and then went back to sleep.

~~~~

Mitchell had taken the dream more seriously. He jumped out of bed and immediately pounded himself in a cold shower. Lina was still asleep across the hall, but Mitchell didn’t think he’d go back again.
He had the same dream with the shadow, but each time, it found a new way to kill him each time. What scared him the most was that he could feel his death when he was dreaming.
Mitchell quickly dressed himself in the same green uniform and entered the kitchen. Dad was seated at the table. Normally when the twins got up, he would have already gone to work.
"You’re early." his father stated, surprised.
"G’Morning. I couldn’t sleep much longer, anyway."
"What happened to your face?"
Mitchell didn’t want to tell him the truth about Lina’s attack. "I fell down last night."
He poured himself a glass of orange juice and popped a waffle into the toaster.
"Dad...?" he hesitated. In the past, he never bothered himself with such trivialities as talking with his father.
"What is it?"
"Do you believe in the supernatural?"
Clint was surprised his son had started talking to him all of a sudden. "Well, I can’t say that I don’t, I’ve never connected with destiny, but there’s hardly any doubt in my mind that it exists. Why?"
"Just wondering."
"You know, sometimes I think your Aunt Iris was psychic. Now I guess I’ll never know, huh?"
Mitchell retrieved the waffle from the toaster and covered it in maple syrup. He was near speechless when he ate. He pretty much knew that Iris wasn’t normal. She was magical, perhaps psychic. One thing was for sure, Mitchell didn’t want to remember her anymore.
For a minute, no one said anything.
"I should be going now." His father broke the tension between them, then retrieved his briefcase and was on his way to leave.
"Dad?"
He stopped then to grant attention to his son. "Yes?"
"Thanks." he smiled.
He didn’t know what he was thanking him for, but he smiled back. "Hey, it was great getting a chance to talk to you."
After a while, Mitchell heard the hollow click of the garage door closing. He ate slowly and then got up to get to school.

~~~~

Mitchell didn’t get to see his sister that much anymore. Whenever she was around, she avoided any contact with him. Now he held an empty feeling inside of him when knowing he might be losing her.
"Same symptoms." said Juni. "You haven’t slept well. And you have a cut on your cheek."
Mitchell sighed without emotion. "It’s nothing serious."
"My mom didn’t sleep well either last night. It’s like you both had the exact same dream. So what was it this time?"
"Same thing, Juni." He shut his locker closed. "I don’t know what it means. I just can’t relate to it at all."
"Maybe because you keep thinking about it, you just can’t stop dreaming about it."
Mitchell shook his head. "It’s nothing like that. It’s more of a sign or a premonition, but each time, it’s different in that I die from various things."
"I’m sorry, I really can’t help you now, I have to get to class or schoolmaster will fail me this term."
"That’s okay, you can go get to class."
"I’ll walk with you after school, okay?"
"Okay."
She kissed him quickly and then ran down the hall.
Juni stopped when she ran into Lina.
"Lina!" she gasped. "Sorry, I didn’t see you."
Lina said nothing, only stared.
Juni looked worriedly at her.
"My brother likes you, you know. He never usually likes anyone."
Juni didn’t respond, instead she seemed only confused.
"You’re an obstacle...." she told her in a cold voice. "I want you dead."
Lina walked away at that moment without even glancing at Juni’s expression.

~~~~

Juni and Mitchell ran home that evening through a rainstorm. Neither of them expected it at all, and so they had no umbrella.
"You okay?!" she called while running.
"I’m fine!" he called back.
"Let’s go to my place, it’s closer. Just keep running, we’re almost there."
Soon enough, the two of them slammed through the door, panting through their breath. Nobody else was home, her parents were still working.
Juni was shivering when they climbed the stairs to her room. She sat at the end of her bed and clutched her arms.
"You’re cold." Mitchell pointed out.
"Just a little."
"Do you want to change?"
She shook her head. "I’m okay." Her blonde hair stuck to the side of her face in clumps. But to Mitchell, she looked so beautiful.
"Here." Mitchell sat beside her and wrapped her in his arms.
"Mitch..." Juni silenced him with a kiss. Her tender touch took away Mitchell’s fear and cold. His hands glided over her and started caressing her, before he began peeling her clothes off slowly.
In a few moments, both their uniforms had been shed to dry on the floor, while they embraced each other, indulging in what they never believed in before.
Juni was sprawled over the bed, when Mitchell crawled over her sent a trail of butterfly kisses at her neck.
Juni placed her hands at the back of his neck and pushed him forward in a force to look in her eyes.
"Your sister hates me." she said.
Mitchell only looked at her lovingly.
"She wants me to die." she continued. "I can sense it in her voice, she means what she’s telling me."
Mitchell knew that once her sister wanted someone dead, she would do something about it.
"Don’t worry, though. Tonight I won’t be here." she told him. "I won’t be here for the rest of this weekend. Lina shouldn’t be able to reach me. My dad and I are leaving to visit my family in Trondheim. If you need anything, you can inform my mom."
Mithell trusted her enough. She could take care of herself even if Lina was on a murderous prowl. "That’s fine." I told her.
"You sure?"
"I’m sure."
"I love you." she whispered.
"Love you, too." Mitchell brushed Juni’s fringe from her face and sent his lips to hers again. "God, Juni... I love you." he whispered. Mitchell didn’t know then how close he was coming to losing her.

~~~~

Mitchell returned home that evening, after saying goodnight to Juni. He noticed that Lina wasn’t home, and neither was Dad.
The first thing he did was change his clothes. Then he returned downstairs and threw his wet uniform into the washer. Mitchell had nothing to do downstairs, so he decided to finish his homework before dinner.
As soon as he reached the top of the stairs, his eyes met the door of his sister’s room. Lina was in there a lot, and she always had the door locked. But now she wasn’t home. Mitchell had never been in her room before, and he wondered what was in there. She had had the same room for eight years, and each year, she spent more and more time alone in there.
Mitchell hesitated, but reluctantly placed a hand over the doorknob and turned it slowly to open the door.
It was dark in there, the blinds were closed. When Mitchell opened the light, he first gasped at the sight of a broken mirror. He stood before it and could not even recognize himself with all the cracks and missing pieces in the glass. When he looked down, he saw a lamp that had been shattered, and was broken into shards. Different objects were scattered all around the floor, and have probably been there for a long time. Mitchell bent forward to pick up one of the items, when he suddenly dropped it at the sound of a startling voice.
"Mitchell." The tone was frightening; dripping in cold poison.
"Lina," he gasped.
"Why are you here?" she demanded.
He was too startled to answer. But out of his surprise, Lina remained still, her voice was threatening, but her body seemed calm.
"I guess now you’re suspecting something of me." she said.
"I’m not suspecting anything!" he protested.
"Then why are you here?"
Mitchell opened his mouth, but produced nothing.
"Do want to know something?! Do you?!" She was beginning to raise her voice. "Answer me!"
"Oh God, Lina, stop!!"
"Watch me." she instructed. "See that trophy right there?"
He turned around to see what she was pointing at. "That’s from the math contest you won."
She nodded. "Now look at it." Lina’s eyes sealed against the trophy... and then it slowly began to lift from the ground.
Mitchell’s eyes widened and his head shook. The trophy was levitating in her command. It hovered in the air for a few moments more before it flew into the wall and broke in half. There was a dent in the wall where it had collided.
"Lina... how did you...?"
"I thought you knew, but I guess not. I’m telekinetic, I’ve been that way since I was four. I showed it to you when I found out, so how come you look so surprised?"
"I didn’t know...." he whispered.
"Every year, this power grew, and I grew with it. You and I both knew that this ability is possessed by evil and darkness. You couldn’t bear to believe that I was becoming like this."
"You did show me..." Mitchell spoke doubtfully, his memory coming back to him. "with the spoon..."
"That’s right, you remember now. I didn’t know how to use this power then." She laughed. "I had no idea it would be this awesome. I can hurt anyone without them knowing or expecting it."
"It was you that attacked Juni!" he suddenly realized.
"I thought you were supposed to be smart. That’s now proven to be incorrect; I was always the smart one. You always cheated on tests and exams with your psychic ability of sight. That explains why you were so slow in discovering my psychic ability. No, wait, I’ll tell you the real reason why you never clued in. Mitch, you were scared to believe it, you constantly told yourself that it wasn’t true. And then you had your subconscious mind believing that it actually wasn’t true. But it reality, your subconscious was wrong. And now, there’s nothing you can do about this."
Everything she told him was true. Mitchell grabbed the sides of his head and shook it. "No!" he cried.
"It’s true!" she screamed at him. "And you know it’s true!"
Mitchell couldn’t take any more. He sped out of her room and ran out of the house, back into the rain. He had to be alone, somewhere where nothing could disturb him. Then he caught sight of the forest. Yes, the forest. Nobody was ever there, that would be the perfect place to hide. Everybody expected it to be haunted with spirits.
He was about to enter when a man stopped him and caught his attention. He was in his thirties, carrying an umbrella over his head.
"Young man," he began. "Are you sure you want to go in there?" His face was tense with worry and horror.
Mitchell nodded and continued.
"No, wait--" he called after him.
But he just ran deeper into the woods and then finally collapsed by a thick tree. He leaned his head back and closed his eyes shut. Sweat beaded his brow and his heart was still leaping from all that running. Rain beated at his body, but he didn’t even notice.
No, please, it can’t be true. I don’t believe in any of this.
But he knew that he did.
There was a sound all of a sudden.
Mitchell jumped back to his feet as he heard footsteps. "Who’s there?"
"Mitchell?" a voice responded.
Huh?!
Robin revealed herself from behind a tree trunk.
"Mrs. Tysper--"
"Please, just call me Robin."
"What are you doing here?!" he asked.
"This is where I saw--" She stopped. "Nevermind. What happened?"
"Nothing." he insisted. "Is Juni with you?"
"No, she already left for Trondheim, why do you need her?"
"I just didn’t want her to be here with me."
Robin was about to speak, but she stopped herself.
Mitchell then noticed that Juni might have been offended by his comment. "I meant that I wanted to be alone."
"I understand." she said, realizing that he wanted her gone. "But Mitch, before I leave, I should tell you that... This forest has been calling me for a long time now. Juni told me that you’ve been having prophetic dreams as well. ...I’ve been having these dreams of this shadow that’s trying to kill me, right in this forest. But each time, it destroys me differently.
"Excuse me?!" he gasped. "No, you didn’t just say..."
"What’s the matter, you look pale."
"I’ve been having the same dreams."
"What?" she whispered after a short silence.
"Did it strangle you with a noose?" he asked her.
"Actually, no. First it stabbed me."
"The first time, it shot an arrow at me."
"...But then in the second dream, it reached out this shadowy claw, stuck it into my body and then--"
"Pulled out your heart?" he continued.
"Yes."
"That happened to me as well."
"Why?! Why are these coming to us?!"
"Robin, you must have some sort of power as well. Returning dreams only occur to those who possess magical, or psychic ability. Something wants us, Robin, and we have to find out what it is and what it’s after."
"What do you mean, we?!" she exclaimed. "I have nothing to do with this!"
"You’ve been cursed with a psychic talent, Robin. This is what you pay."

6: The Pains of Truth
The shadow returned. Its human form was developing quickly. It had in its hands a golden goblet decorated with several jewels.
"Here, take this and drink it. It’s the elixir of life." This was the first time it actually spoke. Mitchell knew it was female, and painfully familiar.
He accepted the goblet and held it to his lips. As soon as a sip of it trickled into his throat, he started to cough up blood and then collapse into the water.
It... no... she... had given him poison. He believed in her and drank it.

~~~~

Mitchell shot up from his bed and panted heavily. His pillow was damp and his mouth felt dry. But the worst thing he felt was the drill of misery and pain that pierced his heart.
"Lina..."

~~~~

She gasped loudly when she saw it return to her. A scorpion was crawling on its arm.
Oh, no. she panicked. Please no... anything but this...
"Meet my pet, Angel." it began.
She knew that voice... it resembled a human girl.
"She’s more poisonous than anything else in this world. Here, say hello." She placed the scorpion up to Robin’s face. "One sting from her, and you die immediately."
Angel pinched her claws before Robin’s face, waving her tail to reveal her shining stinger.
Robin screamed.
...And then woke up.

~~~~

Mitchell leaped out of bed and dressed himself. The clock told him it was only two in the morning, but he proceeded anyway. He saw a board sitting on the table, and grabbed it to take with him.
Lina’s bedroom door was wide open, and no one was in there.
"Lina! Are you here?!"
He didn’t expect an answer, and didn’t get one anyway.
Mitchell exited the house, locked the door and ran off.
He stopped at Robin’s door and repeatedly pressed the doorbell.
Robin reluctantly answered the door and jumped at the sight.
Mitchell pushed the door wide open and simply grabbed her wrist, pulling her forcefully into the dining room.
"What are you doing!? Juni’s not home right now, she and her father had--"
"I didn’t come here to see Juni." Mitchell threw her into a chair and looked straight into her. "I came here to see you."
Robin didn’t want to believe this was happening. She pretended that nothing was wrong. "No you didn’t. I don’t want you here."
Mitchell slammed the board he brought onto the table.
"What’s that?" she gasped.
"An Ouija."
"Why did you bring it?"
"Do you want to see something or not?!" he erupted.
She slowly nodded.
Mitchell sat down quietly and presented the board. "Each time I do this, it always implies the same answer. You can ask it anything, and it still says the exact thing. Here, ask it yourself."
Robin slid the board across the table. "What is Lina doing?" With shaking hands, she placed her fingers over the indicator. "D..." she read aloud as the indicator took control of her movement. "E...A...T.....H...?"
"She’s out to kill." Mitchell stated. "Try it again."
"What is Lina doing?" Robin repeated. "S... H... Quick, Mitch, get a pen!"
Mitchell bolted and returned with a scrap sheet of paper, jotting down the letters Robin spoke.
"What does it say?"
Mitchell looked at the sheet. "She wants death."
Robin silenced.
"You see?" Mitchell whispered.
She leaned forward to catch a better view of the letters. She could see fine where she was, but this made her more sure of what she saw. But as soon as she bent over the table, her photograph slipped from the front pocket of her shirt and landed between them.
Mitchell picked up the picture and paled several times over.
"I need that--" Robin reached for it, but he held it out of her grasp.
"This..." he whispered. "This is my mother."
Her mouth then dropped open. "What?"
"Where did you get this?"
"I don’t know, I was in the woods and this little girl was looking for it, and then she gave it to me."
"A little girl?" he asked doubtfully.
"Yeah, I met her a while ago, she told me her name was Mercury, and then she kind of left and then--" She halted when she noticed that Mitchell had stopped moving and breathing. "What?! What’s wrong?"
"My mother’s name was Mercury."
"No." she gasped. "I can’t be! I had to have been someone!"
"How many people do you think are named Mercury!?!" he yelled, slipping the photo in his own pocket.
"I don’t believe this." she concluded.
"Well, you have to. If you don’t believe at all, everything in your life will crash and burn. We have to find Lina and extract her darkness!!"
"NO!" Her hands flew over her ears. "I’m not listening to you!"
"WE HAVE YOU GO FIND HER!!" he screamed.
"I’m not going anywhere! It’s the middle of the night and I want to go back to sleep."
"You’re an idiot! You know what? I don’t care if you are my girlfriend’s mother, you’re acting so damn childish!!" Out of frustration, he picked up the Ouija board and threw it in her direction.
"I don’t care about this shit you’re giving me!" Robin ignored the attack and let the board fall to the floor.
"Robin! The evil in her will keep growing the longer we stall! You will die if you don’t go!!"
"Bullshit!"
"WOULD YOU JUST LISTEN!?!"
Mitchell’s voice echoed in the hall and then faded, as Robin finally released her ears and kept her hands to her sides.
"I’m sorry for what’s happening to you." he said gently. "But I’m in this with you, too. So you’re not alone. It’ll turn out okay. I promise."
"Mitchell...? How can you be sure? How can I be sure?"
"You don’t have to trust me if you really don’t want to. But please... I just ask of you to come with me. I need you to be in this."
"Okay." she reluctantly agreed.
Both of them got up from the table and exited the building, heading towards the forest again.
"You’re sure she’s there?"
Mitchell nodded. "She has to be."
Then they ran into the woods... but finally stopped when a dark pool of water came into their view.
"That’s it." she whispered.
"Where’s Lina?!"
"I’m not sure."
"Lina?!" he screamed. "Damn you, where are you? Show yourself!"
Her head emerged from the water, which was strange because it was supposed to be extremely shallow. Slowly, her body came above the surface and confronted them. The ring in her eyebrow shone even though it was dark.
"You found me." she said, although she didn’t sound at all impressed. An eerie shadow surrounded her body, and drifted all around her.
"Why the hell are you doing this?!" he exclaimed.
"Same reason you have chose."
"What do mean?!"
"Why did you decide to kill Mrs. Jonsson?" She looked so calm, but she was making Mitchell immensely enraged.
He couldn’t say anything.
Beside her, Robin was shocked with her words. Juni’s history teacher...?
"Why are you doing this?? What do you want?"
"I want both of you dead."
Robin suddenly gasped.
Mitchell’s breathing deepened when his anger reached an uncontrollable stage.
"We were once a team." she told her brother. "Why aren’t you still with me?!" She sounded like she knew the reason, but wanted to test his knowledge.
"Because I refused to be in your charade of death!"
"Stupid." she replied. "You don’t know, do you?! DO YOU?! Damn it, Mitchell, it’s because you learned to love!!"
The shadow around her thickened, and travelled towards Mitchell.
Lina then became calm and she smiled. "Guess what I picked up on the way to Trondheim?"
Mitchell’s eyes widened and his heartbeat stopped. His blood heated, and he started to perspire.
Lina held out her arms and Juni fell into them. "Her father had already been killed by me, so don’t even ask about that."
Robin cried. "My daughter... my husband. YOU KILLED THEM?!?!"
Juni’s body was dead. Patches of blood were splattered over her, and she was no longer breathing.
"Juni!" Robin screamed. "Juni, get up!! JUNI I LOVE YOU! Get up. Please..." She gave in to sobbing, refusing to believe her daughter was gone.
Lina dropped Juni into the water. Her body sprawled into the water with a splash. Her face was still above surface.
Lina suddenly turned to Robin. "You. Do you remember those dreams? This is where they come in use now. Think about which one scares you the most. And that is how I will kill you."
Robin paled tremendously.
"No, Robin. Don’t think about it! Keep it far from your mind!!"
"Mitch?" she spoke with a trembling voice. "I’m deathly afraid of scorpions."
Mitchell gasped, but Lina just smiled.
Suddenly, a large arachnid crawled through the pool of water. It was in alternating patterns of orange and black. Mitchell knew this scorpion was poisonous.
Robin screamed, a huge inkling of fear imprinted in her voice. Lina picked the scorpion up and presented it to Robin’s face. Robin drew back her head and trembled violently.
"Robin!!" he screamed.
The scorpion treaded around Robin’s shoulder and slid a terrifying pincer out into her face. When she presented her tail, a stinger, just like in her dream, appeared, almost glowing with the venom within. In a split second, she sank her stinger in her neck and dropped its poison.
Robin screamed one last time before her eyes went blank. The scorpion drew away from her and crawled back to Lina, disappearing as soon as it touched her.
Robin stopped trembling, and then her body fell into the water, right next to Juni.
Mitchell suddenly collapsed to the ground. But as he did, the photo of his mother slipped out and revealed itself.
Lina noticed this. She moved it with her telekinetic ability and then snatched it into her hands. Lina broke into a sinister-looking smile.
"Mitchell," she breathed, twirling a single finger in the shadow’s darkness. "I killed your mother as well."
Mitchell shook, and cold tears spilled from his eyes. His hand involuntarily shot to his mouth, his head shaking vigourisly.
"She died in this forest. I shoved her off the cliff."
His blood was now flaming, with vengeance and desire. "I’LL KILL YOU!!" Mitchell jumped from his spot and dashed for his sister standing in the water. But he ran into the shadow, and it pushed him away.
"You really are stupid." she told him. "You should know not to touch any supernatural being." Lina threw the photo back at him.
Mitchell pushed his tears away and stood to his feet.
"I’d want to kill you now." she said. "But you know, it’s still not too late for you to join me."
"Why would I want to?"
"Because it would save your life." The darkness around her grew and approached Mitchell in the shape of a terrifying hand with sharp claws. But it simply touched his chin gently and lifted his head.
"This way, no one will ever annoy you. You’ll live life in peace, the way you want it to be."
"I wouldn’t want to sacrifice any life just for my pleasure." he said.
"Why not? Who cares about the others? What have they done for you?"
"I won’t listen to this. Lies. I will never do that!!"
"I’m sorry. Then I have no other choice." Lina stepped towards him and carefully cupped his face in her hands.
"I want to do this as gently as I can. I know that none of those nightmares scared you as much as it did with Robin. But this is how I want it..."
She ran her tongue over her brother’s lips. "Just kiss me."
Mitchell resisted. He struggled to get away from her, but the shadow held him in his place. He couldn’t move.
"Love me; kiss me. I’m not as bad as you think."
Mitchell was disgusted with what he was hearing. "No!" he cried, over and over.
"What’s the matter?" she asked sweetly, shoving her tongue at him again.
"Damn you!" he screamed, turning his head away.
He continued to resist her until Lina grew completely fed up. "You little bastard."
"I know about your kiss of death." Mitchell said. "You weren’t always like this. Tell me how it began!" He then looked at her, and noticed that she was different.
"Lina? Your eyes... your eyes are brown. They’re supposed to be green."
"You can figure it out for yourself. I’m not really me..."
Mitchell stopped moving as he heard Lina’s voice suddenly changing. Her new voice was familiar. He quickly raced his brain. Iris...?
"You’re.... you’re Iris."
The shadow around her floated in mid-air, and then took on a human form, more darkness seeping from Lina’s body.
"I’ve been wanting to tell you for a long time." the shadow spoke in a frightening voice resembling Mitchell’s past aunt. "I had hoped you would find out sooner, but you didn’t. You see, Mitch, I have been reincarnated in your sister’s body." Lina’s eyes closed and she fell to the water, possibly dead.
Mitchell couldn’t help but simply stare at the talking shadow.
"Did you actually think Lina was telekinetic? Yeah right, she could never be anything without me. I possessed her... and you. But you were born psychic, I didn’t have to give you a telekinetic ability. Then Juni came along... and I had to kill her."
He no longer knew what he was supposed to do. Mitchell wanted to be angry and destructive, but he was only surpressed in shock.
"I hated Robin, she wanted to destroy me. Just like you do... Mitchell... die for me."
Iris’ shadow dived for him. Mitchell’s eyes widened as he dropped rapidly to the water.
"Cooperate with me." she said angrily. The red holes in the shadow that substituted as eyes glowed to a shining crimson.
Mitchell’s limp body trembled in the pool, attempting to lift himself up again. He saw his sister’s unconscious body beside him and sobbed for her. He brushed a hand over her hair and hoped for her safetly. Oh please be okay... Lina. Just believe in me.
"She can’t even listen to your thoughts now." Iris informed. "But I can." How can I do this? he wondered in frustration.
Then her spirit charged at him again.
Mitchell collapsed, struggling to hold on to his life. His eyesight was fading, despite his commands against it.

7: The Memories Never Cherished
"Mitch..." a voice called to him. "Hold on."
His sister’s face was incredibly pale, with random strands of hair covering over it. But despite her fatigue, she looked better than what she was over the years.
Mitchell sensed her voice, lifted his head, and saw a vision of his sister lifting herself from the water. "I do believe in you. Mitchell you have to--"
Iris did not give her a chance to complete her sentence; she flew to her and knocked her back into the pool. Lina did not cry, or scream, or release a sound. She breathed for air, but that was it.
"Damn it!" Mitchell cried, throwing a fist into the water.
Mitchell was completely silenced with rage. There was no way his anger could rise any more. He tightly clutched the sides of his head, and completely filled himself with the purest of hatred. I’ll kill you, I’ll kill you, you Satanic bitch!
"Only there is no way that you can." Iris assured. "I am a mere shadow, a darkness that has existed among you." Iris looked at Lina's body. "She is of no use anymore. Your sister will die."
Mitchell noticed the shadow’s eyes slitted into a murderous glare once again. But his brain had frozen, he didn’t know what to do or say.
Slowly, and frighteningly, the shadow’s arms reached for Lina’s body, grabbed around her waist, and almost gently, covered her entirely. She began to lift in the dark atmosphere, into the air, until Mitchell couldn’t see her. And then suddenly, with a strong thrust, the shadow slammed her hard into the pool. Waves of water surrounded her with a deep splash. And then Lina became still, but only for a moment.
Mitchell gasped again. Completely silent. He prayed to himself for her life. He knew Lina was strong; she had plenty of confidence and self-esteem. He knew that she could hold on longer than he could.
"Lina--"
"There is a way, Mitchell." Lina managed to gasp, clutching to one solid object. "She’s lived in my body, and I should know her traits. A shadow like her will die the same way she had in the past." She held up the object in her fingers, her lighter. "Fire is your answer."
A surprised glare from Iris had insinuated that it was true. A tiny spark of hope lit inside of Mitchell, but only a small one. There were doubts in his mind that a fire would actually incinerate a shadow.
Lina fumbled slightly while handling the lighter. When she finally produced a good grip on the iten, she slid her thumb over the knob and sheilded the small flame with her hands. And then she thrust it into the water.
Mitchell became skeptical then. But contrary to his expectations, a blazing fire shot from the pool and burned in front of his sister. As quick as lightening, a line of fire spread from Lina to Iris, surrounding her with the menacing flames.
No one could decipher whether or not Iris had screamed. Her mouth was wide, releasing what looked like a deathly yell, but silent. For a long time, all that could be seen was the shadow disappearing amongst the fire. And then she was gone.
The only thing that Mitchell could hear at the moment was Lina’s faint breathing. Husky, laboured gasps of breath.
Mitchell walked over to her and fell into the water beside her.
"You okay?" he asked, throwing her arms around Lina.
"I’m fine." she coughed. A small stream of water spilled from her mouth as she continued coughing.
"Lina." he whispered, beginning to cry.
"I’m sorry. I can’t stay." she said.
Mitchell only clutched her in his arms. "I can’t let you leave me."
"She was a part of me. When she goes, I go. But I want to thank you. Without terminating her, she would have been in my body forever. Thanks."
Mitchell could not respond to her.
"I.. I just want you to know that now I am safe, and I will move on to the next life. I will see you again. Someday."
"But Lina--"
She pressed a finger against her brother’s lips. "Go to sleep Mitch. You will start a new day tomorrow, and no will ever remember me again. You’ll live your life like I was never in it. Except, well..." She paused for a second. "Mom will be back. Iris killed her when my power was weak. But um... Juni...."
Lina looked into her brother’s eyes with a hurt expression. "I’m sorry."
"Lina... it’s not your fault..."
"Mitch, do me a favour, and just close your eyes. When you wake up, I’ll be gone, so this is the last moment for us."
"But I learned that you can always keep someone close to you when you remember them."
Lina smile and brushed away the tears on Mitchell’s face. "You always did come up with the most philosophical phrases, big bro."
"I’m only two minutes older than you are." he replied, blinking away the moisture in his eyes.
"Take care, Mitch."
"I love you, sis."
He jumped out to hug her, resting and burying his face in her neck, crying.
"Maybe sometime you’ll remember me. You were the one who was always naturally psychic..." she whispered.
Lina sang an old childhood song to him- the same thing he did to her when she was younger, until he was lulled to sleep....

8: The Forest of Lost Souls
Another morning awakened his with the loud blast from his alarm clock. Mitchell awoke then and got ready for another day of school.
He came down soon after for breakfast, but didn’t come with an appetite.
"Morning." his mother greeted.
"Morning, Mom."
His mother never did the cooking. She had developed some sort of small phobia with the chore. She had never told him why, either. Another thing he was curious about was the scarred skin on her right hand. It was obviously from a burn, so he guessed that his mother must have a fear of fire.
"Do you need a ride?" his father asked him.
"Clint, you seem too tired. I’ll drive him today."
"No, it’s okay." Mitchell interrupted. "I’ll walk to school today."
"Are you sure?"
He nodded silently.
Mitchell’s mother noted something different. "Are you sick?"
"No." Mitchell smiled for her. "I’ll have breakfast now, please."
"Oh, right, sure..." she respoded worriedly.

~~~~

Mitchell left a few minutes later, headed for school.
He had not many friends, but several had talked to him. Then he realized that he had never bothered to make friends in his past. He felt so alone then.
By art class, he had not spoken a word; he did not eat at lunch, and didn’t feel like eating for the rest of day.
The fact that he wasn’t good at art didn’t help. He never even wanted to take an art class, but the other courses he chose were taken. Mitchell looked at the vacant seat beside him, sensing that someone used to sit there, and at the same time, hoping that anyone would just magically appear there. This made him even more lonely.
He skipped his last class and went straight home, knowing that he didn’t feel very well. Maybe he was ill, maybe he was tired, or maybe he just held an empty feeling within him.
His parents had taken the day off, so there they were, decorating the place for the evening.
"You’re early." his mother stated.
"Schoolmaster excused me."
"What’s the matter, were you sick?"
Mitchell paused, then shook his head. "Just.... tired."
She smiled. "Well, I hope that doesn’t last long. Remember, we’re having guests over for dinner."
Great. Mitchell thought to himself unenthusiastically.
He was about to walk away when his mother spoke again.
"By the way, there’s this really nice girl I want you to meet. She’s really sweet and she’s your age, too. I know you’ll like her."
Mitchell stopped and slowly spun around, feeling as if something was taking control of him. "I can’t..." he said, not even realizing he was speaking, "I.... have a girlfriend."
"Gee, Mitch." his father began. "We didn’t mean you had to like her in that way-"
"You do?" his mother interrupted, glancing curiously at her son.
"Yes... N-no... I mean..." he shook his head and closed his eyes. "I’m sorry."
Mitchell then gathered his things and headed upstairs alone.
He halted again. Then he looked in the direction of the room beside his. The study. He needed something there.
He entered the room and then slowly opened the bottom drawer of the desk. He reached his hand in and grabbed a single object. A silver cross. Mitchell was very spiritual; he kept the item in the safest spot possible in the house.
Now he had to get out of here. This room gave off the strangest vibrations...

~~~~

That night, the house was flooded with various guests. Some had come all the way from England just for the one visit. Mitchell thought that if his parents had taken so much effort in planning the celebration, he might as well act nice and look happy. Atleast, that’s what he thought. The truth was... he couldn’t even concentrate on the celebration, he was being called by someone.
Mitchell quickly glanced out the window. Then his mother called him, bringing a guest with her.
"Here’s the person I wanted you to meet, Mitch." She gave a gentle push to the girl before her and presented her to me. "This is Candy."
"Hey." No kiss on the lady’s hand, no hand-shaking, no nothing. Mitchell gave her the simpliest greeting, his mind slipping away from him the longer he stood there. He would look out the window constantly, receiving worried and confused stares from others.
"Mitchell Masterson," Candy spoke, breaking the uneasy silence. "Your mother has said a lot about you."
"Yeah..." He couldn’t even grasp onto the words she spoke. Finally, Mitchell gave up. "I’m sorry, I have to go." As he walked away, Mitchell realized the unmannerly behaviour he presented; the manner in which he was brought up to avoid. So he turned around again and smiled in her direction. "I’ll hopefully see you later tonight. I just have some business to take care of. Look for me tonight, kay?"
Candy smiled back. "Okay."
Mitchell bolted out of the room and directly out the house.
Something.... Someone was calling for him.
The air was dark, as was the sky. The stars that scattered the sky were hardly visible anymore. It was cold, Mitchell knew that, but he resumed running.
Finally, he stopped. Mitchell looked at the view in front of him. The opening was pitch black... so dark... and yet, there was light within.
The forest. That’s where he was.
Mitchell just stood at the entrance for several minutes, hardly even blinking. His brain froze again and his subconscious mind took over him.
"You can’t make a clairvoyant forget..." his mouth spoke.
He took a step forward, and then entered the woods.
"I know you’re calling me. Just... where are you?" Mitchell whispered.
Suddenly, his body collided with another, and both fell to the ground.
When he felt the other body, something didn’t feel right...
He looked at the girl he ran in to. A beautiful one, precisely his own age. She looked at him through piercing green eyes and smiled. Mitchell knew this was a spirit.
"Who...?" he questioned.
"I’ve been looking for you. I can’t reincarnate myself yet. I have to give you something." She reached into her pocket and handed him what she took out. "You’ll need it soon."
Mitchell hesitantly took it in his hands.
A lighter?
"What’s this for?"
"You will know someday." she answered.
Then, all of a sudden, she leapt into his arms.
"I love you.... big brother...." she whispered.
Mitchell gasped and his eyes flew open in surprise, but eventually he gave in and hugged her back.
The girl blinked once and began crying. "Goodbye..."
And then she was gone.
Mitchell was still standing on the same spot, looking at the lighter in his hands, then looking at where the spirit was standing.
"Li...na..." he whispered without thinking.
For the first time in a long time, Mitchell smiled. He had no idea why, but he didn’t need a reason. Mitchell carefully placed the lighter in his pocket and began leaving the forest.
Maybe he had seen that girl before, maybe he hadn’t... how did he know? He didn’t, but his intuition told him otherwise.
When he approached back onto the street, he looked at the sky again, and finally saw the stars. They stared down at him and shone intensely.
Mitchell found himself smiling again through strong tears. Those stars... they were portraying their message in the sky. Communicating in only a way he would understand.
.....They were telling him that the spirit he met was finally free......

~*End*~